A move to bring a three-day music festival to the New Hampshire Motor Speedway is being challenged in court.
Three neighbors have filed a lawsuit against the Speedway and the town for allegedly violating a 1989 settlement agreement.
Canterbury resident Jim Snyder says his little slice of heaven is disrupted several weekends a year thanks to the races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
“Believe me, it’s loud,” he said Wednesday.
His concern about the noise goes back 28 years, when he and several other residents signed a settlement agreement with the Speedway, which prohibits the venue from hosting concerts.
“Noise like that at night opens the door to more disturbance for people who live here,” Snyder said.
The three-day country music festival set for 2018 will be in camping lot “S6,” a long ways away from the oval and a section of the Speedway that General Manager David McGrath says is not covered in the 1989 agreement.
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“We have acquired many tracks of land since then,” McGrath said. “This property we are talking about is on the south end of the Speedway and quite frankly, we don’t feel it is applicable to the agreement signed back in 1989.”
Snyder disagrees.
“That doesn’t make sense, it’s still part of the track, they treat it as part of the track the whole rest of the year,” he said.
Now, Snyder and two other neighbors are relying on a judge to uphold that agreement, filing suit against the Speedway and the town for approving the festival.
“Once they’ve broken the agreement for one thing who knows what will come next,” Snyder said.
McGrath says he’s heard from many residents and local business owners excited about the music festival and the economic boost that’s sure to come with it.
The NHMS has 30 days to file its response to the lawsuit.
